


Ghosts in the Sun

by phylavell



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Everyone is Dead, F/M, Gen, Other, Post-Apocalypse, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 03:46:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3473258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phylavell/pseuds/phylavell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a disease wipes out what you call home what else is there left to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts in the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know I wanted to write a jaybabs and this happened. No beta and I'm also like six seconds away from falling asleep so if anything reads weird please let me know. Reads and feedback are welcome and appreciated, thank you <3

The raunchy smell of decaying wood fills his nostrils as he stares up at the ceiling in a daze. The smell of the wood was better than the smell of rot that had polluted the air for the past months. It nauseated him slightly, but he didn’t budge from his position on the ground. It isn’t until the weight atop of him shifts that he lets out a grunt and speaks, “You okay?”

She raises her head and nods. The light has faded from her eyes and even her hair has lost its bright shade of red, fading into a dull orange that was borderline brown. It stands up in random places; the ponytail she had tied it into was slowly disintegrating. The clothes she wears are mismatched, found in various houses they’ve looted. He smiles at her regardless. He knows she’s beautiful.

She looks down at him, a pensive look on her face before she leans down and presses her lips against his. He complies and his hands finish unravelling her ponytail. Her own hands find their way to his own mop of greasy hair. It’s begun to grow out lighter, like when he was a kid. Her hands nearly claw at his face, as if to assure that she was touching human skin.

When she draws back he can tell she’s about ready to break, but she doesn’t. She stands and moves to the set of crates they had hoarded from a local market. He doesn’t know where they are exactly, just that they’re there somewhere in Kansas. They’ll have to leave soon, if they want to stay alive.

He’s not sure he wants to be, but it’s not like he can leave her.

Call it his final act of redemption.

She frowns as she digs through the crates and finds nothing. She finally speaks when she looks up at him, “How long has it been?”

“Three days,” he says hoarsely.

“We need to go,” she speaks firmly, and for a second he sees who she used to be. Images of who they used to be flash through his mind. They can’t break him. He’s known that he was broken the second he had been pulled out of the Lazarus pit.

He’d said three days but it’s been longer, at least for him. He had given her the majority of what he’d manage to scour from the market and other stores. He doesn’t expect any recompense. 

The small room they’ve boarded themselves up in is dark, damp, and disgusting. He misses it when they’re out in the open again. Bodies lie upon each other on the street as the walk down the centre of the road. Her hand holds his.

“Tell me again,” he says as they walk towards the sun and what the map said was west. They had heard there were others in Star City though they both knew it was far-fetched. Back in Gotham they were sure there would be nothing left to save in a matter of weeks, had they not stopped what was going on.

She squeezes his hand and lets it go to move closer to his side. His arm slides across her waist and she leans her head on his shoulder before her hand slinks down to take his again. Then she speaks.

“Your name is Jason Todd. You worked under the alias the Red Hood, former Robin, and former associate of Bruce Wayne and Batman Incorporated. You are twenty four years old and you’ve lived through so much,” she stops speaking and rubs her thumb across the top of his hand, “now me.”

He nod and begins, “Your name is Barbara Gordon. You’re the daughter of James Gordon, commissioner of Gotham City. You operated under the alias Batgirl as an associate of Bruce Wayne and Batman. You were involved in an incident and after then you operated as Oracle. Through some miracles you’ve regained your legs. You are twenty six years old and you’re absolutely amazing.”

They continue in silence and he looks down at the stained sleeve of his red sweater up until he reaches their intertwined hands. They find their way to a highway and continue their walk towards California.

 

It had been seven months without the rest of them and two years and three months since their lives ended.

Bruce had gone to new extremes to protect them this time around. He knew the man had acted rashly, but he didn’t hate him. Not anymore. When he had found Bruce he was ambushed by the Batman. He woke up in a room beneath the batcave, chained to the wall by his ankle. Damian was at his left, and Dick on his right. Enraged, he managed to ask what had happened. Dick responded. 

There had been an outbreak of what the League was calling the Super-disease in various parts of the country. The closest to Gotham had been three miles away. In a panic, Bruce tricked his son into the room and went out and captured Nightwing before heading to Metropolis. Jason just happened to be in the city. Dick had been worried for Stephanie, Tim, Cassandra, and Barbara. Jason got them out and they took it upon themselves to find them. They found everyone but Tim and Cassandra. Tim, Damian explained, was back with the Teen Titans and Stephanie mentioned that Cassandra had left Gotham before anything had happened. They hoped she wouldn’t come back.

Now, as he walks past a sign that reads: HAYS CITY LIMITS, he looks up to the sky and says a silent prayer for Tim Drake.

The Super-Disease was appropriately named. It drove its victims insane within hours of contamination, causing them to do the unthinkable. Some became zombie-like, wanting to eat anything that moved. Others became destructive and murderous. The worst, he thought, were the ones who were driven to suicide. Even now they passed trees with bodies hanging from them.

They had formed their own little survival group. Dick was their leader. Within a few days of the violence in the streets the League had begun plans to set up a refuge in Star City funded by Bruce Wayne and Oliver Queen.

They never heard back from Bruce. Dick never said anything, but the loss of Bruce Wayne hurt him more than anyone knew. Though maybe except for Barbara. The two had rekindled within the second week of it all. Gotham had fallen in one.

He had seen some horrible things in his life, but Gotham City under the reign of the Super-Disease is something he wishes he could black out. There were bodies in the street, some being eaten. Those who had remained alive were seen jumping off of buildings in fits of laughter that made Gotham miss The Joker. Whenever a building fell the group would hold a small ceremony in honour of those who may have still been alive.

Damian and Stephanie had figured out how the disease was spread when they were still held up in the batcave. It had come through the sudden appearance of mosquito nests near the coast. Who had been at fault, they never knew.

Within six months they decided it was time to leave the city. Those who had contracted the disease were likely out of the city and the majority of power generators had stopped running. 

Alfred refused to leave Wayne Manor and they all respected the butler’s decisions. The Manor had enough resources to uphold the entire “family” for an entire year after that. And to everyone’s surprise, Damian chose to stay as well. 

Jason had leaned back with Stephanie and watched as a crying Dick kneeled in front of Damian. The four knew that they were headed into the unknown. Any signal outside of the batcave had fallen and their communicators would only last for so long. The Justice League never got in touch with them, so they assumed the worst.

“Bring my father back, Grayson,” Damian’s voice falters and Dick nods furiously.

“I’ll bring him back,” Dick promises.

 

As the sun begins to set in front of them they begin moving towards an exit. They were very capable of defending themselves in the event of there being any in the city. Though he’s absolutely sure that at this point they’ve all either killed themselves or each other.

When they find another house to sleep in they move quickly to find any food nearby. There is little that is salvageable. They take what they can and make their way back to the house. It belonged to a single man who owned a dog. The pet food remains in the bowl untouched and a single jacket lies thrown across the main bedroom. 

He collects a few adjustable lamps and a wooden chair and fixes a fire in the backyard where he sets up a pot with the soup from cans they’d collected. Barbara takes to finding them new clothes.

He sits down on the ground in the large living room with a bowl in his hand. Barbara follows suit and she sits beside him.

“Do you ever think about settling?” she asks.

He shakes his head, “We have to get to Tim,”

Her features fall slightly but she continues speaking, “The Justice League fell,”

“Not Tim. He’s too smart,” Jason says.

“You read the signs,” she replies.

“Yeah. The Justice League is dead. Abandon all hope ye who live here,” he recites.

“How do you think Damian and Alfred are doing?” she asks.

“They’re alive. The Manor could survive world war three,” he says.

She nods slowly and continues eating.

“Hey, Babs?” he asks after a few moments of silence.

“Yeah?” she says after swallowing.

“If you ever want out, don’t feel obligated to stay here because of me,” he says as he stares down at the red liquid in the bowl. His appetite lost.

She remains silent for a few moments before answering, “We promised Dick,”

He shakes his head, “I promised Dick I wouldn’t leave you. I’m keeping that. If you want to go, I’ll go too,”

She shakes her head as well and he looks up at her, “We can’t die, Jay,” 

His mouth twists into the slightest smirk, “Easy for you to say,”

Her eyes roll upward slightly in a playful gesture and they smile at each other.

 

The night they lost Dick Grayson was a night they’ll probably never be completely over no matter how long has passed. They had lost Stephanie three months before and were still feeling the depth of her loss, Jason especially. She spoke to him while Dick and Barbara had been wrapped up in each other. He’d come to be incredibly fond of the girl.

With heavy hearts slowing them down they had made it to Chicago. Dick had found them a good place to hold down and they had been doing better than they had been since they lost Stephanie.

One day, Dick just didn’t come back. They went out the next day and searched for him. They never found a body. They went back and waited. Hours became days, days became weeks and soon enough they had been there two months and Dick had not returned.

Barbara cried. She wailed, she cursed, and she destroyed the apartment building they were in. Her tirade lasted three days. She had begun a fourth but Jason had decided to step in. He took a broken coffee table from her hands and shouted at her. She shouted back. Amidst the shouting he got to her. _What was the last thing he said to you?!_ Dick had told her he loved her. She knew it and she went and locked herself in the bedroom.

When they were in the apartment building Dick and Barbara had taken the bedroom and Jason had taken the couch in the living room. The morning after he awoke to find Barbara sleeping against him. She wanted to leave. He had considered going back to Gotham but he knew she was as stubborn as Dick. She would want to head to Star City. They packed and they left. That had been seven months ago.

As Barbara lies against him in the small home they’ve taken for themselves his arm is wrapped around her middle and he thinks of the outside. The horror and the death that’s become of the world he once believed he could conquer. He remembered yelling it at Bruce once. He strutted around on his third official night as Robin. _The world is mine!_ He’d yelled. He wondered what the younger version of him would think, immediately pushing the thought out of his head at the feeling that rushed through him. He would instead shift himself onto one elbow and look down at her.

The laugher lines had faded away and only in her sleep did she ever seem relaxed. In their first night away from Gotham, Dick had made everyone promise they would stay alive no matter what. After that, in a private conversation he had made Jason promise he wouldn’t leave Barbara if anything were to happen to Dick on their way to Star City. Jason didn’t love her and he didn’t care about her the way Dick did, but he felt a sense of debt to Dick that he knew he could repay. It was Jason’s way of apologizing to everyone for nearly killing Bruce all those times.

She shifts as well and her eyes flutter open and meet his. Her eyes scan his face for a few moments and he leans forward a little bit, “This is real,” he whispers, “And I’m sorry.”

She says nothing as she adjusts herself so she can lean upwards and press their lips together. He obliges and allows her to guide his hands to wherever she wants them to be. Their clothes are thrown in various directions and he adjusts himself in order to continue doing as she wants. He whispers sweet nothings into her neck as she writhes beneath him. 

When their heartbeats slow down he rolls onto his back and she wraps her arm around his middle. She rests her head on his chest and falls asleep again. His left hand absentmindedly runs through her hair as he thinks back to what lead them there.

They’d lost their families, their friends, and everything they once held dear. His last lingering hope was with Tim in California, but he could never fully convince himself that Damian and Alfred were still alive, much less that they would survive the trip to California. His right hand moves to her shoulder and he begins drawing small circles as he stares down at the mess of her hair on his chest.

The world was ugly, but she was still beautiful.


End file.
